This has virtually nothing to do with Dodgeville’s usual beat, but I want one of these suits even more badly than I want one of those motorized coolers. Of course I wouldn’t look nearly as graceful as this guy and I doubt I could beat a motorcycle in a race down a mountain, but I’d sure have fun trying.
Category: wonderings
So I see-um
Says the blurb about these stylish insect-proof pants on MEC’s web site:
These breathable and lightweight bug pants are made of economical, airy, and bug-proof 100% polyester no-see-um mesh, and provide a very effective deterrent against bugs.
Now I’m no expert, but no-see-um mesh or not, I’m pretty sure that I can-see-um right through those airy pants. Fortunately, the official product picture on the manufacturer’s web site is a little more explicit about proper wardrobe etiquette when wearing mesh pants.
Picture (sans model) from MEC’s product page.
While I suppose that's strictly true…
…I still think that my transportation-related carbon footprint is slightly lower than yours, even though my bike is at least partially meat-powered. Also, it’s bad enough that I have to compete for space on the road with two-tonne metal and glass beasts, but now I have to compete with them for food too? Go back to (non-vegetable) oil and stop kidding yourself that you’re doing something noble.
Separated at birth?
Sculpture of Robert Holmes—the “Foremost Painter of Canadian Wild Flowers”—by John Byers in the Guild Inn Gardens and Jack Layton. Can you tell the difference?
Re-name
It seems that people have always named their kids after the celebrities of the day. The impulse is represented by thousands of young Britneys and Lindsays today, but celebrity was a different beast in the past. Take, for example, the list of candidates in the riding of York North for 1921, each named after a famous predecessor. But instead of teenybopper celebrities, their namesakes were a rebel (and grandfather), a prime minister, and a philosopher.
Unrelated: Speaking of Britneys, if you search for ‘spears’ while assembling information for a quick post about a mostly-unrelated topic (because you know that you’d never search for it otherwise), Google is a little too helpful.
Is that a caulking gun in your pocket?
Must’ve been a wild night.
Notes to the cleaning crew
The people in suite 536 occasionally leave notes to the cleaning crew, usually sticking to a consistent theme. But every once in a while, for reasons yet unknown, they change their minds.
Where's Jack?
Hmm. It’s been a week and a half since the federal election was called and just five days remain before nominations close, and so far no candidates in Toronto-Danforth (including NDP leader Jack Layton) have managed to scrape together the 100 signatures required to submit their nomination papers. Who will be the first? It could be you.
Update: The Green Party’s Sharon Howarth just became the first to crack the list. The rest of you were a little too slow on the draw.
Profession or obsession?
What kind of person do you suppose drives this car: gardener, l33t h4X0r, or Australian lothario? You be the judge.
The Girdler
With the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, opening today, and traffic to my own Dark Knight page skyrocketing over the last week, now would be a good time to ponder a question that’s vexed my curious mind for some 30 years now: would The Girdler be a better name for a superhero or supervillain? And in either case, what would his superpower be? And who would be his nemesis?
According to the Girdler Family web site, the Girdler name—like Cooper, Miller, and Smith—originates with a profession: a girdle maker, in this case. The girdles in question more resemble belts than the modern Playtex variety, though.